Wanting to be Maverick, Leland Schulz knew he was going to go to the Naval Academy after high school. Leland, a Combat Engineer Marine Officer, joins the #YearOfTheVet family to talk about his transition from being an advisor to the Army’s of Iraq and Afghanistan, into an Account Manager—or as he simplified it… software salesman.

I mention it earlier, but my conversation with Leland was simply insightful.

We talk a lot about giving yourself a shot at anything you want to do—and we talk about it in different ways. And you can see what I mean from some of my favorite quotes from the conversation!

“Don’t short change the skills you have, because it’s not JUST what your MOS is. There are underlying skillets that you can extract from your experience in the Marine Corps”

“The biggest lesson I learned in transition is to not be afraid! This implication of failure in the Marine Corps is measured in lives, most things aren’t the serious in the corporate world. It’s ok to try something and fail!”

Don’t try to replicate the past!

Leland talks about his experience with utilizing the headhunters like Lucas Groups, Bradley Morris, or Orion, similarly to how I had (don’t wait till they contact you… reach out and let them know you’re interested in their help).

We also talk the awkward moment when people “Thank you for your service!” We talk about a separation of Enlisted vs. Officers as it pertains to employment, and how career progression is not outlined in the civilian world isn’t like it is in the service…You now have the control of your destiny… USE IT!

Shout out to Arleen Graves for setting this up!

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Show Notes

Some tips you may want to take into consideration pulled from the conversation:

• Learn humility

• You need a good balance of leadership and rapport

• Get out before your stop having fun

• Use the veteran LinkedIn benefits and used the allowed LinkedIn Job Seeker badge

• Use your terminal leave as a buffer between the military and getting back into the job force

• Taking chances on opportunities, in aspects to employment

• “You have a right to get a feel where they want you to work!”

• “If you can, don’t sign anything till you have the opportunity to feel what the company culture is like”

• You CAN make demands as it pertains to accepting a job offer! BUT they must be statements and not “wishy washy” mentions…

• Take the time to break down your roles in the military instead of you’re overall MOS. The small things such as maintaining your own inventory, can turn into a resume bullet point of something along the lines of, “Responsible of $780,000 of government owned gear. most civilians have never been in charge of that kinda of price tag.

• Be Ambitious, but be realistic…”